Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,753,171 and 9,277,963 disclose a radiation treatment brassiere (“RTB”) that is worn during a radiation treatment session. The RTB is capable of precisely and reproducibly obtaining a desired breast geometry, treatment position, and patient-to-machine alignment for radiation therapy while also enabling the non-affected breast to be moved out of the treatment field.
The RTB includes sheer, substantially “see-through” cup material, and multiple adjustment elements/closures. The bra is devoid of metal and uses hook-and-loop fastener (e.g., VELCRO®, etc.). The RTB can be worn for use with all treatment machines without causing bolus effect and is undetectable during CT scan.
Multiple adjustable elements, typically implemented as closures, enable the position of the breast to be adjusted to achieve a desired reference breast geometry during a radiation treatment planning session. This is achieved by appropriately tightening or loosening the various adjustable elements, thereby establishing a “reference setting” for each such adjustable element. The RTB includes markings (e.g., lines, etc.) to facilitate memorializing the reference setting. This enables a technician to reset all released closures to their established reference settings prior to a radiation treatment session. Since the reference setting for each adjustable element establishes the reference breast geometry, the reference breast geometry is re-established for each radiation treatment session by simply resetting each released adjustable closure to its reference setting.
The RTB also provides an ability to move the non-treated breast laterally to avoid, to extent possible, placing medial tissue of the contralateral breast in the treatment field.
Although the RTB, by virtue of its construction, is adjustable, it must nevertheless properly fit the patient to be able to establish a precise, reproducible breast geometry, as is required for proper breast-to-treatment machine alignment. For this reason, the RTB, which is now commercially available from CIVCO Radiotherapy of Coralville, Iowa as the Chabner XRT® Radiation Bra, is available in a number of sizes, covering a range of back sizes and cup sizes.
Notwithstanding the variety of size options available, it is still possible that a patient will not fit properly into an RTB. Consider, for example, a size “3” RTB, which accommodates a back size of 38″ to 40″ and a cup size of B/C, and a size “4” RTB, which accommodates a back size of 38″ to 40″ and a cup size of D/DD. A patient might fit a size “3” RTB by breast/cup size, but has a large back that is not properly accommodated by a size “3” RTB. In such a scenario, sizing up to a size “4” would not be a good option. Or, consider another scenario in which a patient is too large to fit into the largest size RTB that is offered.